Another Small Drop at the Pump in Western Pennsylvania

After dropping nearly three cents last week, gas prices in Western Pennsylvania are down by another two cents this week to $2.858 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

Gas prices decreased across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region, but drivers in some states are still paying some of the highest prices in the nation (Pennsylvania, $2.83). Moreover, five Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states rank among the top 10 states paying substantially more for gasoline compared to February 2017, including Pennsylvania (+29 cents).

Regional inventories pushed past the 66 million barrel mark on the week with the addition of 1.1 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The region has seen consistent build for the past month, yet fall about 1 million behind inventory levels last year.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average: $2.858Average price during the week of February 12, 2018: $2.881Average price during the week of February 21, 2017: $2.550

On the National Front
The national gas price average has been steadily decreasing for nearly two weeks dropping from the year-to-date high of $2.61 (on February 5) to today’s national average of $2.53. Motorists in nearly every state are paying less on the week with Midwest and Southern states seeing the largest price drops at the pump. Hawaii (+2 cents) and Indiana (+1 cent) were the only states to see increases.

Today’s national gas price average is 4 cents less than one week ago, 1 cent more than a month ago, but 25 cents more than a year ago.

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session on the NYMEX, West Texas Intermediate increased 34 cents to settle at $61.68. Crude prices may continue to trend higher this week amid signs of continued growth in U.S. oil production. In fact, last week’s EIA petroleum report revealed that U.S. oil production grew 332,000 b/d, putting total crude output at 10.271 million b/d. Likewise, U.S. crude inventories rose for a third straight week by 1.8 million bbl. Inventory levels now total 422.1 million bbl. Moreover, according to Baker Hughes, the U.S. added 7 oil rigs last week bringing the total rig count to 798.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 81 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members.News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.